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Police Brutality

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Sir James A:
As was said, having all the facts will likely never happen. A "boring" or "normal" news story does little for ratings. "Violent protestors get maced" - expected result to a given action. "Peaceful protestors maced, beaten and arrested" - news story. Part of the bigger question is how often did this happen 5, 10, 25 years ago, and is it really "more frequent" now than it was before, or are we just more aware of it because news spreads so quickly via the internet and the ratio of people with pocket-sized video recording devices is higher than ever?

A couple years back there was a guy in MD who confronted a robber in his garage. He stabbed the guy, and the robber died on the property. One article wrote about how the "victim" was actually the robber who, after multiple convictions, was recently released from jail - yet, was the "victim" and "senselessly and brutally murdered" despite entering someone's home to steal from them and/or harm them. Another article wrote about the bravery it took for a college student to defend himself against a larger person, with a criminal history, and not knowing if the intruder had a knife, gun, or otherwise. Exact same situation - but the slant of the article and the perception of the outcome depends on which story you read.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the troops "coming home" in 2012 is going to be much more as preparation for riot suppression / crowd control than anything else. As far as the police brutality - I expect it to continue to be in the media spotlight as tensions rise and the line between "citizen" and "authority" is sharpened and strained, and as responsibility for their actions continues to be inconsequential.

Sir William:
This brings to mind of the case of the UMD student who was beaten down by a number of cops, see video here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/04/12/VI2010041202595.html?sid=ST2010041204523

Cases like these leave a black mark on all of the people who wear the uniform in service to their respective domains; my own personal viewpoint is that they're human too, so you'll have good and bad cops...but I feel the good are much more numerous than the bad- but we only ever hear about the bad stuff.

I'm with you, Sir Brian, in that I could not be a police officer.  I'm way too quick-tempered and cynical so as far as I'd be concerned, they're already guilty if I'm on the scene.  That's sad...my brother, on the other hand, is thinking of becoming a cop (he's currently an Captain in the AF)...like I told him, I don't know how you'll do it. 

He's as bad as I am w/the temper bit but he does have better social and interpersonal skills than I, so maybe he'll make a good one.

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